Machine for displaying and dispensing soap tablets or the like articles



B. CRAMP 4 OR THE LIKE ARTICLES Feb. 6, 1940.

MACHINE FOR DISPLAYING AND DISPENSING SOAP TABLETS Filed May 18, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVEN TOR. BENJ'HMIN CRHMP BYIM FITTORNEY Feb. 6, 1940. B CRAMP 2,189,544

MACHINE FOR. DISPLAYING AND DISPENSING SOAP TABLETS OR THE LIKE ARTICLES Filed May 18, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR: Bswzramm CRFIMP HTTORN ILY Patented Feb. 6, 1940 UNITED STATES MACHINE FOR DISPLAYING AND DISPENS- ,ING SOAP TABLETS OR THE LIKE ARTI- CLES Benjamin Cramp, Barkingside, IlfordQEngland .Application May 18, 1938,:Serial N0. 208,517

, In GreatBritainMay '31, 1937 4 Claims. (o1. 312- 64) I snail cam and a guide secured to the top of said base member, a discharge aperture to said track, a storage elementfor the stacked articles rotatably secured above said snail-cam, and with its axis-of rotation perpendicular to the plane of said snail-cam, means .for rotating'said storage ele-- ment, a discharge orifice to said storage element, a bridge-member crossing said discharge orifice, the arrangement being such that when. the rotating mechanism is operated, the guiding face" of the snail-cam displaces the centre of gravity of the lowermost stacked tablet, thecam movingthe bottom of the tablet outwards whilst the bridge member: retains the top of the-tablet in its original position, therebydisplacing the centre of gravity of the tablet, so that theweight of thetablet tends to pull the tablet automatically down into a discharge position, the tablet being retained on the slant by the internal face of the guide, until the tablet is rotated in line with the delivery aperture, when the resistance of the out-- side. guide is removed, andthe weight of the tablet -autor natically pulls the tablet down into the delivery position. g I

The article may, during rotation of the column, revolve about a double track cam and be caused to change its position from the verticalto a suitable angle, so that immediately said ar-- ticle leaves the camand passes a delivery opening, the article willassume the horizontal posi-.

Fig. 2 is a plan thereof with the detachable cover removed;

Fig. 3 is a section on line 3-3, Fig. 1;;

Fig. 4 is a section on line 4-4, Fig. 2;

Fig.5 is a plan of the operatingmechanism;

lF'ig. dis a front elevation of the operating mechanism;

Fig. 7 is a rear elevation of the operating mechanism; a

Fig. .8 is a section on the line 88,' Fig. 6;

In the example illustrated I provide a stationary base iconstructed in box form and havingatop-co-ver 3. On the underside of-the cover 3- is a mechanism comprising an operatinglever 4 adapted to pivot in suitable bearings 5a, 5b, secured. to the bottom 6 0i said base 2. The lever 4 .is also adapted to extend through a vertical slotBio-rmed in the base. This lever dispro- A E T] OFFICE vided with a finger plate 9 so that it maybe manipulated by finger pressure. ment l isiarranged to actuate a bevel gearing comprising a toothed quadrant llL'disposed on an arm ll rigidly secured to said lever' l. The said toothed quadrant I 0 engages a bevel pinion quadrant l2 secured to a bossor sleeve. l3 adapted to rotate on a vertical shaft I4. A transverse stop I5- ispassedi-through the shaft 14. Secured. to

said pinion I2 is an arm It provided with a lug I l to which isfixed a flat spring 18 wherein a rectangular. hole'or slot I9 is formed. Above the stop i5 on the shaft l4-slides a boss or sleeve 20. to whichis secureda ratchet'wheel 2! having four teeth 22 at 90 from. each other. 2301? the ratchet wheel 2 l-remote from the sleeve 20has recesses24 along a diameter of said wheel 2| adapted to receive the arms of the stop l5 so as. to limit the downward motion of theratchet wheel 2|.

to form a clutch by. engaging with. corresponding recesses 26 in a circularly recessed part 21 of a .squareplate 28-having shoulders at 29 and:

sliding on shaft I 4 as an axis. The side 3030f the plate 28..remote from the circular recess 21 is squarely recessed at -3 I. the same size as plate 28 slides on shaft I4"'on theside of plate 28 remote from the ratchet wheel 2| for a purpose hereinafter to be described; The endof the shaft [4 adjacent the plate 32 is provided with a screw thread 33 and anut 34.

Returning now to the bearings 5a., 5b, these one with a base plate 35.

lower, end of the vertical shaft l 4"." Aball Btu-is inserted; in: the-bottom of-so'cketi3"'l-for the" end of shaft i4;tojride on, 7 The lever t is secured irrits" The lever: ele- The side- The end of sleeve 20" remote from the ratchet wheel is crowned with teeth 25-adapted A square plate 32 of u; passage 18 square in cross-section.

bearings by means of a pin 39 which passes through a boss or sleeve 40 at the junction of lever 4 and arm H and at its ends extends into the bearings 5a, 512. To facilitate fixing in position bearing 5a has a hole large enough to permit of the passage therethrough of pin 39. One end of pin 39 is shouldered so as to engage in a shoulder seating in bearing 5b and'the :other end of the pin 39 is prevented from working back out of bearing 5a. by a transverse pin 4| passing through a hole 42 in the outer end 43 of the bearing 5a.

Lever 4 is provided witha projection 44 adapted to engage abutment 36 and limit the upward motion of said lever. From a lug 45 on foot step bearing 31 a pin 46 projects upwardly and holds a bent end 41 of a coiled spring 48 of which the other bent end 49 is held by a pin 56 projecting downwardly from the underside of arm l6. This spring 48 always tends to force arm l6 to return to its initial position after lever 4 has been depressed. Consequently the toothed quadrant and pinion l0, l2 and therefore lever 4 always return to their initial position after lever 4 has been depressed and released. Standard or abutment 36 has an upwardly projecting pin 5| on its upper end which engages in a suitable socket 52 in the underside of the top cover 3 of the base. Pins 53 project from the lower side of the base plate 35, and engage in suitable sockets 54 in the bottom 6 of the base. Pins 53, 53 are thus adapted to hold the base plate 35 and therefore the bearings 5a, 5b in position.

To the upper end of abutment 36 on the side remote from hearing 5a is secured a fiat oblong 1 spring 55 having a rectangular hole 56 adapted to engage with the teeth 22 of ratchet wheel 2| and prevent its turning in a clockwise direction. On the upper face 51 of the top cover 3 of the base there is a snail cam 58 disposed centrally ;about the orifice 59 through which the shaft l4 of the multiple column detachable storage element 60 passes. The example illustrated shows four columns. Also fixed to said upper face 51 and in association with said cam 58 there is a guide 6|. The external face 62 of the cam 58 and the internal face 63 of the guide 6| form a track in which the ends of the articles 64 stand in the multiple column dispenser engage and rest. An aperture 65 formed in the guide 6| already referred to through which articles can pass when ejected. From aperture 65 the articles pass onto a delivery member 66 forming part of the stationary base 2, so that the article being delivered extrudes beyond the front of said delivery member 66 to permit of the fingers extracting the article from the dispenser when required. In conjunction with this arrangement each channel 61 of the multiple column storage element 60 is provided with bridge members 68 on which the glass front 69 of the channel rests. The said bridge member 68 is so positioned in the channel 61 that a rectangular orifice l0 exists below it to allow of articles 64 passing underneath when being ejected. In the example illustrated the storage element 66 is of square cross-section and is provided with four vertical storage channels 61 facing the four sides of the square. The glass fronts 69 are formed by panels adapted to slide in slots 1| in the sides 12 of the channels 61 so that the articles 64 can be seen. The storage element 60 is provided with a suitable cover 13 attached thereto by a chain 14. The backs 15 of the storage channels 61 are interconnected by tongues 16 and grooves 11 to form a central Passage 18 is transversely grooved at 19 at a suitable place. Plate 32 is disposed in said grooves at right angles across said channel during the construction of the storage element 66. A transverse stop 86 is disposed between the end of the snail cam 58 and the opposite wall of guide 6|. Plate 32 has a medial orifice 8| through which shaft |4' can pass.

In operation assuming that the parts are disassembled the base-plate 35 is placed in position on the bottom 6 of base 2 so that pins 53 engage in sockets 54, lever 4 projecting through slot 8. Boss or sleevev I3 is then slid correctly on to shaft M and so is boss or sleeve 20, on opposite sides of stop l5, the springs l8 and 55 by means of the rectangular holes l9 and 56 being brought into correct engagement with the teeth 22 of ratchet wheel 2|. The shaft I4 is placed in its socket or foot step bearing 31 so that quadrant l0 and pinion l2 engage. Spring 48 is connected to pins 46, 50 by its bent ends 41, 49 so as to urge the quadrant pinion l2 in a clockwise direction. Square plate 28 is slid on to shaft l4 so that its internal recesses 26 engage with teeth 25 on sleeve 20. The top cover 3 is slid over shaft 4, which passes through orifice 59, and permanently secured in position. The storage element 60 is placed on shaft l4 so that this shaft slides through passage 18 and the bottom of passage 18 engages on the shoulders 29 of square plate 28 and shaft |4 slides through the orifice 8| of plate 32. Nut 34 is screwed home on the end of shaft l4 to hold the assemblage firmly together.

The glass fronts are slid into position. The storage channels 61 are filled with articles 64, soap tablets in the present example.

Cover 13 is replaced in position.

On depressing lever 4 quadrant ||l rotates pinion |2 through 90. Consequently spring l8 pulls a tooth 22 of ratchet wheel 2| round and through 90 anti-clockwise regarded from above. Clutch device 25, 26 rotates storage element 60. The bottom articles 64 in the track between the snail-cam 58 and the guide 6| are gradually forced further and further from the vertical through the rectangular orifices 10 as the storage element 60 revolves. In addition the lowest article in each channel 61 is pressed outwardly by the weight of the articles lying above it. Finally when the article comes opposite the stop 80 it falls flat, under pressure of the weight of the articles above since its lower edge is released from guide 6|. The article ejected comes to rest horizontally on transverse stop 86, without falling from the machine. In this position the article can easily be withdrawn by the fingers. The article next above it falls vertically and has its lower outer edge caught by stop 80, so that it is held vertically in its channel 61 and on the next downward pressure on lever 4 becomes engaged between cam 58 and guide 6|, and so on.

The engagement of spring 55 with a tooth of the ratchet wheel 2| prevents the ratchet wheel 2| from rotating clockwise, regarded from above, when the pinion l2 and quadrant return to their original position.

In modified forms of device the arrangement and number of storage channels 61 and corresponding rotating mechanism may be so modified as to deliver at other fractions of a turn, e. g., A;.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A machine for displaying and dispensing stacked soap tablets or the like articles comprising a base member having a delivery side, a track along which is guided the lowermost article of the stack, said track being formed between a snail cam and a guide secured to the top of said base member, a discharge aperture to said track, a storage element, for the stacked articles rotatably secured above said snail cam, and with its axis of rotation perpendicular'to the plane of said snail cam, means for rotating said storage element, a discharge orifice to said storage element, a bridge-member crossing the said discharge orifice, the arrangement being such that When the rotating mechanism is operated, the guiding face of the snail cam displaces the centre of gravity'of the lowermost stackedtablet, the cam moving the bottom of the tablet outwards whilst the bridge member retainsthe top of the tablet in its original position thereby displacing the centre of gravity of the tablet, so that the weight ofthe tablet tends to pull the tablet automatically down into a discharge position, the tablet being retained on the slant by the internal face of the guide, until the tab-let .is rotated in line with the delivery aperture, then the resistance of the outside guide is removed, and the weight of the tablet automatically pulls the tablet down into the delivery position.

2. A machine according to claim 1, a stop being provided on the base, the discharge outlet being provided between the extreme end of the guide and said stop whereby the article is permitted to come to rest horizontally partly in the column and partly outside it to facilitate manual withdrawal, the stop acting as a lock when in engagement with the article to prevent the column being rotated in the delivery direction, Whilst the article is in the delivery direction.

3. In the means for rotating the storage element of a machine according to claim 1, a rotatable spindle supporting said storage element, 'a ratchet wheel in driving connection with'said spindle, and a spring pawl engaging said ratchet wheel, said pawl being operated by a lever arrangement normally manually-accessible for retating the storage element. I

4. In the means for rotating the storage ele ment of a machine according to claim 1, a rotatable spindle suporting said storage element, a ratchet wheel in driving connection with said spindle and a spring pawl engaging said ratchet wheel to lock the wheel against rotation in a direction opposite to the delivery direction.

' BENJAMIN CRAMP. 

